Almost immediately, a very slight swell was perceived over the
place of the explosion, and the water looked rather foamy: then in
about a second it began to rise, and there was the most enormous
outbreak of spray that you can conceive. It rose in one column of 60
or 70 feet high, and broad at the base, resembling a stumpy sheaf with
jagged masses of spray spreading out at the sides, and seemed to grow
outwards till I almost feared that it was coming to us. It sunk, I
suppose, in separate parts, for it did not make any grand squash down,
and then there were seen logs of wood rising, and a dense mass of
black mud, which spread gradually round till it occupied a very large
space. Fish were stunned by it: our boatmen picked up some. It was
said by all present that this was the best explosion which had been
seen: it was truly wonderful. Then we sailed to Portsmouth.......The
explosion was a thing worth going many miles to see. There were many
yachts and sailing boats out to see it (I counted 26 before they were
at the fullest), so that the scene was very gay.
* * * * *
Here are some notes on York Cathedral after the fire:
RED LION HOTEL, REDCAR,
_1840, Sept.
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